Nearly 300 thousand family businesses in the Netherlands

© ANP / Arie Kievit
There were nearly 300 thousand family-owned businesses in the Netherlands at the beginning of 2022. Nearly three-quarters of family businesses are active in the non-financial sector, such as retail, accommodation and food services and manufacturing. Collectively, they generated sales turnover of 595 billion euros and added over 152 billion euros in value to the Dutch economy. This is according to the latest figures on family business from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
In a family business, one family directly or indirectly holds a majority of the voting power (25 percent for listed companies). The family must be formally involved in the Board of Directors and the ownership of the business must also be legally transferable. Self-employed persons with no employees are included as a separate group.

1 in 7 businesses are family-owned

Of all 2 million businesses in the Netherlands in 2022, 14 percent were family-owned and employed more than one person. Together they had more than 378 business locations.

Around 71 percent of the businesses that employed 2 to 10 people were family-owned. The larger the company, the less likely it is to be a family business. Family businesses are especially common in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (47 percent), accommodation and food services sector (40 percent) and car trade and repair sector (30 percent).

Nearly 2.8 people work for family businesses

Family businesses provided nearly 2.8 million jobs in 2022, accounting for more than 31 percent of all jobs in the Netherlands. Businesses and institutions that were not family-owned provided more than 4.5 million jobs. The remaining employee jobs are in institutions such as government and educational institutions (1.43 million) and in enterprises with only one employee (158 thousand).


More fixed-term employment contracts at family businesses

In 2022, 41 percent of workers at family-owned businesses were on fixed-term employment contracts, compared to 33 percent in 2021. Nearly 1 in 5 jobs at family businesses consisted of 12 working hours or fewer per week. This was around 1 in 10 among non-family businesses. The difference is partly explained by the greater importance of the retail trade and hospitality activities (with many jobs on shorter working hours, in relative terms) among family businesses.

In total, 59 percent of people working at family businesses were men. Among non-family businesses, the gender distribution was almost equal. This is related to the high number of female employees in the healthcare and well-being sector and the low percentage of family businesses in this sector.

Family businesses account for nearly 60 percent of value added in car trade

The importance of family businesses in value added, among businesses in the non-financial business sector, was greatest in the car trade and repair sector at nearly 60 percent. Family businesses are also strongly represented in the accommodation and food services sector and in the construction sector. The information and communications sector had the smallest share of value added by family businesses, at 15 percent.